Refined Vices

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Atlantico Private Cask

When new interesting products enter the market I intend to find out as much as I can about them and sometimes if I am lucky, I have the privilege to review these new products.

Such is the case with Ron Atlantico Private Cask, a product of the Dominican Republic that was launched last October in Miami by the Atlantico Importing Company or Alebrand Spirits Company, a joint venture between Aleco Azqueta and Brandon Lieb, who had previously managed some of the biggest liquor brands before they went into business together.

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Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva

For as long as I can remember I've had a thing for Venezuelan rums and you could say I've never had rum from Venezuela that has disappointed me.

Since learning about Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva I just knew I had to get my hands on it but this had not been possible until Rum Fest 2008, where I finally had the opportunity to get one from the Whisky Exchange stand.

I also wanted one of those cool Diplomatico posters they had hanging on the wall, but, unfortunately, by the time I was making my purchases it had been taken away.

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Giselle LarondeThe following information may be slightly outdated, but in 2001 I was in closer contact with people at Angostura Ltd. and asked them a series of questions. This was following my visits to their site at the outskirts of Laventille, Trinidad on earlier times.

My contact person was Ms. Giselle Laronde-West, the Communications Manager of Angostura Ltd. (for those who do not know, she happens to also be the 1986 Miss World, and a University of London graduate).

I based my questions on an article published in a US website at the time (no longer found by google at least), written by Mr. Bouchard. I personally noticed some inaccuracies in the article, and wanted to verify the facts. I mentioned on my intent of publishing the answers in a form of an article, just to be totally fair.

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St. Nicholas Abbey 10 Year Old

St. Nicholas Abbey, one of the 'Seven Wonders of Barbados', is an old Jacobean style mansion built in 1658 and is one of the three existing Jacobean mansions in the Western Hemisphere.

Surrounded by lush tropical forests and over 400 acres of sugar cane fields, the estate is situated in St. Peter, Cherry Tree Hill and has, since its restoration, become a popular tourist attraction.

In an effort to preserve a piece of history and to prevent the estate from becoming purely a tourist attraction, the Warren family has established a cottage industry of sugar-related products including St. Nicholas Abbey rum which is produced using traditional methods which were first used over 350 years ago on Barbados.

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Rum Old Fashioned

The airport was cold and quiet with only a few tired looking people quietly making their way to the right gates in a silent and restrained fashion very typical for Finns. Having woken up at 4am that morning, with barely any sleep during the previous night, I could easily relate to them.

The airport monitors were all showing blue screens of death, something very reassuring you always want to see before you're supposed to be getting on a computerised flying tin can with not enough parachutes for everyone. The plane was scheduled to leave at 6:45 to Stockholm where I would have to catch another plane that would eventually take me to London.

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Single Malt

Bill Lumsden, the head of distilling and whiskey creation for Moët-Hennessy Louis Vuitton's (LVMH.PA) Glenmorangie and Ardbeg single-malt whiskies is a character.

Not that the whisky business isn't full of creative, irascible, intriguing folks in charge of keeping our glasses filled.

But having played a preposterous party game with Lumsden and others until 3 a.m. one night last May and drank from the spring that supplies Glenmorangie, I feel confident that Lumsden will have no problem getting his portion of the angel's share of whisky when he is in heaven.

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Renegade Rum

Earlier this year the first small-batch limited edition rums by Renegade Rum Company were released that included two vintages from Guyana and one from Jamaica and Panama.

The 2008 collection of the Renegade Rum Company's new bottlings have been released. This is the second limited small-batch release from Renegade Rum Company so far where each of the six bottlings is from a single estate and single vintage featuring also rare stocks from stills that no longer exist.

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Bruichladdich The Sixteen

Two weeks ago I received an e-mail from Mark Reynier about the new whisky release from Bruichladdich and quite recently I received a sample of the new whisky, which I am reviewing today.

Bruichladdich 16 Year Old Bourbon Cask matured Single Malt is distilled and aged by Bruichladdich, a privately owned Islay based distillery by the shore of Loch Indaal, which was built in 1881 by Barnett Harvey, using funds received from his nephew, William Harvey IV.

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Ron Matusalem Gran Reserva

“Esto es mas viejo que Matusalem”

In the 1800s two Spanish brothers Benjamin and Eduardo Camp, along with their partner Evaristo Álvarez, arrived in Cuba to establish Matusalem Rum in 1872 in Santiago de Cuba, where they used their knowledge of distillation and blending of sherries, brandies and wines to create a formula for rum that would be passed on to generations to come.

In 1912, when Benjamin returned to Spain, the company was left in the hands of his brother Eduardo and their partner, Evaristo who would soon unite their families through the marriage of Evaristos daughter and Eduardo's son, Claudio Álvarez LeFebre.